


Turmeric is a weird spice.

by CancerianWastelandCat



Series: GazettE FanFics for Black _Lives_Matter [1]
Category: the GazettE (Band)
Genre: Domestic Bliss, Domestic Boyfriends, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, M/M, Melancholy, Slice of Life, a little? Not so sure, commission
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:42:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24664057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CancerianWastelandCat/pseuds/CancerianWastelandCat
Summary: A short piece of boyfriends having dinner together and one of them swooning over the other.
Relationships: Reita/Aoi (the GazettE)
Series: GazettE FanFics for Black _Lives_Matter [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1783252
Kudos: 16





	Turmeric is a weird spice.

**Author's Note:**

> This work was commissioned by a Twitter mutual for my smol "GazettE Fanfics for Black Lives Matter" project. Her donation will be given to a non-profit organization in support of the BLM movement. Thank you very much for participating and I hope everybody enjoys :)

Turmeric was a weird spice. 

It tasted like _a lot_ , but also like it didn't belong anywhere specific. Yet one pinch too much could absolutely make or break a dish (even if Kai insisted there was no such thing as ‘too much spice’), and unfortunately Reita was pretty sure that this pasta sauce bubbling away on his stovetop was… 

Well, it wasn't _made,_ that was for sure. 

Re-doing the whole thing was definitely out of the question. The keys were clicking in the front door and Aoi was back from work and the subsequent, quick trip to the conbini next door. 

**_“Beeeer!”_** Reita roared—all manly in his chest voice—but only _after_ he realized that thrusting one’s dirty cooking spoon into the air like some sort of tribe leader was not the best idea in an all-white kitchen. He cleared his throat and quickly placed the spoon back down and the lid onto the pot. Maybe turmeric needed a little time to do its magic. 

Aoi was already laughing at him when he entered the kitchen, setting his shopping bag down on the table. It was _ugly,_ to say the very least, but all the local stores had started charging for their plastic bags recently and Aoi was way too stingy not to accept the recycled one they had given away to people. Now he had to live with the abomination that were purple flowers on a puke-yellow background. 

“Weren’t you the one that got wasted on a 3% Horoyoi the other day?” he teased, listening to his boyfriend huff while he loaded the beer into the fridge. 

“You _spiked_ that drink with something and we both know it.”

“I did no such thing.” 

“Yes, you did.”

“I didn't, and if I did I can't remember after the 6 beers _I_ had.”

“You- ” Reita turned, his lips already twitching at the corners though he tried to suppress it. Aoi stood by the table, staring at him smugly over the rim of the can he was currently slurping the beer foam off.

“ _You_ can't hold your liquor for shit and we both know it,” he shrugged nonchalantly. “But that’s fine, one of us has to be the man in this relationship after all.”

Reita’s jaw hit the floor almost audibly and Aoi instantly burst into spluttering laughter, making his way over to the stove. Reita pouted. 

“Last time I checked I was the one on top in this relationship, you know.”

“Mhm,” Aoi made while peering past him at the sauce, patting his free hand against Reita’s chest. “But only because I let you.”

There was no reaction for an entire moment, and when Aoi looked up, Reita was giving him a gaze so deadpan it took all his might not to break into another laughing fit. Bad humor was daily fare for them usually, though perhaps that didn't apply as much when it came to things like this. Reita had taken them very seriously right from the start after all. 

Aoi chuckled, lifting his palm from Reita’s chest to his cheek. 

“A joke,” he reassured with a soft smile, pecking his lips briefly. “I made a joke. Forget about it.”

Reita only huffed, pulling him back in for yet another kiss. The determination in it made Aoi smile first, and coaxed him into putting his beer down second, snaking his arms around Reita’s neck. For a short while, the only things he heard were their breathing, the burbling sauce and Tokyo’s summer-night sounds, far away outside the tilted window. Aoi closed his eyes and when they broke apart again, Reita was finally smiling. Even a little smirk was tugging at the corners of his mouth. 

“Don’t know who gave you the right to be so mean to me all the time,” he mumbled into the space between them. 

“Mm, I believe that was you when you asked me to move in with you.”

“Should’ve thought about that a little harder.”

“Oh, shut up,” Aoi snorted before he was smiling, nodding towards the pasta. “Are you done with this yet? I can set the table on the balcony.”

“Go ahead.”

* * *

Summer nights on the outskirts of Tokyo hit differently. Their little balcony was barely big enough to accommodate the rusty old table, two green iron chairs and a couple of flower-pots-turned-vegetable-beds, but Aoi loved it here more than anywhere else. When he stepped out, he saw the roofs of their neighbors, dipped into the red, setting sun; no skyscrapers. He saw the laundry hanging outside and the dusty soccer field where the neighborhood kids played everyday. The smaller of the two street lamps at the south corner was still flickering, but in a soft yellow shade.

Ruki had called them crazy for moving out here. _Too far away, too secluded, too silent,_ he’d said. Aoi minded none of it. Having to drive longer to the studio didn't bother him nor did they miss the bustle of the city. And he for his part quite fancied the quiet; they weren't exactly getting younger either. 

“Dinner’s served!” 

Aoi smiled and pushed himself away from the railing, exhaling the smoke of the cigarette he stubbed out into the ashtray on the floor. Upon straightening himself, he caught sight of a small red fruit in one of the pots and his eyes widened with amazement.

“Hey, we have tomatoes!” he exclaimed and turned to face Reita with a broad grin on his face. Reita chuckled to himself as he set down their plates. Aoi was so easy to please, getting excited over the littlest things. The way he never held back his joys, no matter how trivial they might seem, had to be one of the things Reita loved the most about him. 

“I should’ve checked earlier then, could’ve added them to the sauce,” he thought aloud while pulling Aoi’s chair back for him.

“And not let me see them after I fought so hard to nurse them back to life? I don't think so,” Aoi retaliated, his cheeks heating up at the courteous gesture. 

“Thank you. It smells heavenly by the way.”

“Ha, I can only hope it tastes half as good as it smells.” 

Aoi responded with nothing but a giggle. Digging into his food, he remained completely oblivious to the somersaults Reita’s heart was performing in his chest. The sun burning at the horizon was dipping Aoi’s skin into a stunning tan and his midnight hair into an unreal sheen; like black dewdrops that dangled into his forehead. Reita was staring, and knew it. The gentle evening breeze rustled through the opened collar of Aoi’s shirt and the tips of his hair, jingling his silver bracelets as he ate. 

“Did you put turmeric in this?” he asked after a couple bites. Hastily Reita blinked and cleared his throat, hoping Aoi hadn't noticed his staring. 

“Uh, yeah. Not much though.”

“Weird spice to put in pasta sauce. But I like it. You came up with that yourself?”

“Nope. Kai recommended it.”

“Of course he did.” 

They laughed. And it was so easy, laughing with Aoi. Without a care in the world, he sat there, blabbering on about his workday and how boring and repetitive the interviews had been. Reita understood all too well. He’d had his fair share of them.

“Can you believe the first question was whether any of us are taken? Took her a whole fifteen minutes to even get to talking about the album.” 

“I’d be lying if I said I was surprised.” 

“Right?”

With a theatrical sigh, Aoi leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms above his head until a tiny portion of his belly was exposed. 

“Ruki would’ve bitten her head off,” he half-yawned, before casting his gaze across their peaceful neighborhood. 

Reita gifted him a smile that went unseen. It was of such fondness he was almost glad Aoi hadn't caught it. They had been together for years, yet he was still in awe at Aoi’s effortless beauty from time to time. It was a little silly, he thought, but couldn't bring himself to stop either. 

“Well,” he mused once he’d pushed his chair back to collect their empty dishes. “I gotta consider myself lucky you’re not as violent as him then.” 

“Hmmmm,” Aoi made as if in thought, extending grabby hands towards his boyfriend, “only if you want me to be.” 

Reita scoffed at that, but allowed Aoi to dig his fingers into his shirt regardless and himself to be pulled into a kiss that was anything _but_ violent. Aoi’s lips tasted of sleepiness and turmeric, curled into the softest of smiles. Soon enough his palm began to wander, if only to smooth out the wrinkles his fingers had left in Reita’s shirt, and after both their air had run out, he withdrew. 

“It was definitely as good as it smelled,” he murmured and Reita _phew_ ed in relief. 

“I have to thank Kai for the tip then,” he grinned, “I’ll go wash up.” 

“Okay.” 

He left him with that, returning to the kitchen. Using an old washcloth, Reita wiped away the splatters of sauce his tribe-leader-alter-ego had left on the tiles earlier, and while the sink filled up with steaming soap bubbles, his eyes were automatically trained across the living room and towards the man on the balcony. The sight made him smile one of those goofy smiles again. 

Aoi was back to crouching in front of their vegetable pots, holding a small spray flask in one hand. With the utmost concentration, he made sure that every leaf and patch of soil got its fair share of the water he spritzed onto the plants.

A prickling mixture of nervousness and excitement began to coil in the pit of Reita’s stomach upon eyeing Aoi’s slender fingers, holding the many thin branches apart. The sleek, golden ring hidden away in his wardrobe was going to look nice on them, he was sure.

 _Tomorrow,_ he told himself as he turned the faucet off and reached for a sponge from the cupboard. 

_Tomorrow I’ll ask him._


End file.
